Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript

This audio edition brings together the revised Preface and Postscript that Samuel Richardson wrote for the fourth edition of his celebrated novel, along with the rarely heard “Hints of Prefaces.” Listeners will hear the original eighteenth‑century texts, punctuated by scholarly notes that explain how Richardson reshaped his theoretical defense of the work, removed Warburton’s earlier introduction, and expanded his reflections on the epistolary form.

The material also includes contemporary critical sketches by Philip Skelton and Joseph Spence, plus Richardson’s own scattered observations on narrative structure and psychological realism. The editors illuminate the collaborative process behind these essays, showing how friends and fellow scholars helped shape a theory that positioned the letter‑written novel as a dramatized, more vivid alternative to the “dry Narrative” of the time.

For anyone fascinated by the history of literary criticism, this collection offers a clear window into the mind of a pioneering author and the scholarly debates that surrounded his groundbreaking novel.